Apparatus and method for convergence control

A control apparatus that is configured to provide convergence control for an adaptive echo canceller filter, the echo canceller filter having an adjustable convergence, the apparatus comprising:

• an interface including an input and an output, the input configured to receive a first adaptation factor, the first adaptation factor determined according to a first signal analysis approach and calculated at least in part using an error signal and a microphone signal, the input further configured to receive a second adaptation factor that is determined according to a second signal analysis approach based at least upon the microphone signal;
• a comparator coupled to the interface that is configured to compare the first adaption factor to the second adaptation factor and select one of the first adaptation factor or the second adaptation factor based upon at least one predetermined criteria;
• the comparator further configured to transmit the selected adaptation factor at the output to the echo canceller filer, the selected adaptation factor effective to control the convergence of the echo canceller filter.

A system of providing convergence control for an adaptive echo canceller filter, the system comprising:

• a small filter, the small filter configured to receive a microphone signal;
• an adaptive echo canceller filter, the echo canceller filter having an adjustable convergence;
• a control unit, the control unit coupled to the small filter and the adaptive echo canceller filter, the control unit configured to, regardless of the presence of echo or uplink speech, determine an error signal from the received signal utilizing the small filter, the small filter continuously adapting received signals, the control unit further configured to determine a first adaptation factor based at least upon the error signal and the microphone signal according to a first signal analysis approach and determine a second adaptation factor based at least upon the microphone signal according to a second signal analysis approach, the control unit further configured to compare the first adaption factor to the second adaptation factor and select one of the first adaptation factor or the second adaptation factor based upon at least one predetermined criteria, the control unit configured to apply the selected adaptation factor to the echo canceller filer to control the convergence of the echo canceller filter.